


Consensus

by veridian



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 11:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5664166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veridian/pseuds/veridian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tali takes a bullet for Shepard, she knows she'll probably receive medical treatment.</p>
<p>Given the war going on, she isn't expecting to get it from a geth.</p>
<p>Written for the Mass Effect Kink Meme. Prompt was "Tali ends up severely injured during a mission on haestrom. Legion takes care of her wounds. I want one of those "no data available" moments."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consensus

**Author's Note:**

> hey so i just finished priority: rannoch for the first time ever and now i'm pretty much just going to write fic about legion until i die :')

Haestrom. So many memories of this place. Good ones, mostly. Haestrom is where Tali was finally free to follow Shepard, the first place where she considered a future in which her name was "vas Normandy," the first time after Shepard's "death" that she felt alive again.

And now, the first time she's been shot through the abdomen.

It's a stupid mistake, really, trying to bull-rush a Cerberus Nemesis, but with Shepard in her line of sight and the Commander completely oblivious to it, Tali had to do _something._

The crack of a sniper rifle, Shepard's panicked yelling, and the calm, quiet "Retaliating." from Legion all blend together - she hears another rifle go off from behind Shepard, hears the Nemesis crumple to the floor, and then everything goes quiet.

When she awakes, the sharp smell of medi-gel and disinfectant is pungent in the air. There's a metallic taste in her mouth, and she doesn't even want to think about what her suit must look like. It's probably ruined. She feels someone applying bandages. Well, she thinks, if someone is going to see her with her suit all torn up, she's glad it's -

"Legion!" she gasps, attempting to scramble away as she finally realizes the hand applying the bandage has three fingers, not five. The geth peers down at her, its face panels tipped forward.

"Creator Tali'Zorah, movement will reopen your wounds."

"You sure that's not what you want?" Tali asks, bitterly, regretting the retort as soon as it leaves her mouth.

Legion's panels flip in the opposite direction, and it makes a distinct whirring noise. "We do not wish to see you die. Shepard-Commander shares our consensus."

"Does she share your consensus, or do you share hers?" It's a question posed cautiously as she stares the geth down through her helmet. There's a difference between wanting to help her and helping her because Shepard told it to.

Legion pauses, its panels twitching. In the end, it doesn't respond, simply reaching for the bandages again.

"Where is Shepard, anyway?" Tali asks, looking anywhere but the geth's eyelight.

"She is attempting to flag down a shuttle. We believe she has encountered some resistance."

"More Cerberus? And you're not out there helping her?" Her voice rises, panicked. Tali can't believe what she's hearing.

"If we were helping her, there would be no one to help you, Creator Tali'Zorah." Legion states it simply, as though anything about this situation at all were simple.

"And you're not fine with that? Wouldn't it be very convenient for the geth to have an admiral die in battle?" Tali hisses.

Legion pulls too hard at the bandage, tearing it. It makes a distressed beep and starts over.

"Legion," Tali insists, "give me an answer."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, it would be convenient for us if you died here." Its panels drop, as though answering had taken the energy out of it. "The death of an admiral would likely throw the Creator fleet into disarray. We would capitalize on the organic tendency to react emotionally. It would be an enormous advantage." It gently, carefully applies more medi-gel to Tali's wound.

"So the only reason you're helping is because Shepard told you to," she replies, hollow.

"No." The geth reaches for something else, fiddles with it for a moment. Tali cranes her neck, trying to see what it is, but Legion pushes her back down. "Movement will reopen your wounds," it repeats. "We are attempting to patch your suit," it offers as explanation.

"Just go help Shepard. Isn't that what you want to do? I'll probably be fine now." She's not entirely sure if that's true, but the atmosphere between herself and Legion is starting to feel suffocating.

"We wish to assist Shepard-Commander," Legion agrees. "However, when put to a consensus, it was decided that we would stay here and tend to your wounds."

"And what did you base that consensus on? You just admitted that it would be easier on your people if I died. You're ruining a great chance to win this war. So why the hell would you choose to help an enemy admiral over Shepard? You know I wouldn't do the same for you!"

She's taken aback at her own anger - she'd been trying to get along with Legion, at Shepard's request, even though their people were at war with each other. She wanted desperately to put the same trust in the geth that her commander did, the same trust that she _had_ after the Collector Base. Where had that gone, and why was she so doubtful of someone - no, of some _thing_ she'd almost been ready to call a friend? The war changed things. She knew that. She knew it, but even so, she'd been ready to accept that Legion really was different from every other geth.

Why is it so hard to accept that now?

But there's no sense in asking Legion that, or even bringing it up at all. Those are answers she has to find for herself, but in the meantime, the geth before her searches for the answer to the question she did ask.

Legion whirs again, for an agonizingly long time. It stares down at her, and its eyelight flickers from her helmet to the bullet wound and back.

Just as she's given up on that answer, Legion answers softly.

"No data available."

Tali lets out a long, shuddering breath, closing her eyes.

"Tali, Legion, are you two okay?" Shepard's voice pipes up over the radio, and Legion immediately responds.

"Affirmative. Creator Tali'Zorah has been stabilized. However, we are unskilled with medicine, and would like to accompany her to Chakwas-Doctor's office once we have been retrieved."

"Sounds good. Thanks for saving her."

Legion's panels pitch forward, then back, then slightly off to the side, as though it can't decide how to react.

"We do not need thanks. Despite her insistence on the contrary, we know that she would have done the same for us."

Tali's eyes snap open, and she gives Legion a long, hard look. It extends a hand, moving the other onto her shoulders.

"Creator Tali'Zorah. We believe getting up will induce pain, but it is necessary to return to Normandy. We will ensure you are transported to the medbay as soon as possible."

"Okay, Legion," she says softly, reaching up to take its hand.

No, to take _their_ hand.


End file.
